The web 2.0 tools are amazing the five tools that educators and student can benefit from are, the calendar, you tube, the scholar beta, docs, and Google earth. These tools can help make learning fun for the students. The students will have opportunities to hone their computer skills, learn how to do research, write papers, build slides, and most importantly learn how to find many different types of information. Not only will this help them as students this will help them become successful adults in our society.
I never knew all these tools were available on the internet. The first one that would be helpful in the classroom is the calendar. This looks like it’ll be a great tool to be able to update daily, weekly, monthly tasks for the classroom, and have the ability for all students and the educator to communicate. What is great is that if you have access to the internet the calendar is available. Access to the calendar will help you make all your appointments. Most importantly it is a way for the students to know when assignments and or projects are to be started and completed. This can be a great tool to help keep the students on track and turn in their assignments. The calendar can also be a great tool to help get the last minute information out to the students if needed. If the students have access to the internet they can get to the calendar and get the information immediately. The calendar is a great tool that will help students and the educators stay informed.
The second is you tube, you tube is amazing there is so much information you can find on you tube and use in the classroom. You can teach history, current events, politics, economics, you can basically find information on any subject or issue on you tube, which can be used in the classroom. Also you tube is a great way to get some laughs in the classroom when needed.
In my classes last semester every single instructor used you tube at one time or another. Such topics were in history, Native American and Civil war History. So far you tube is a favorite of mine and I believe it is a great tool for the classroom and can be a great tool for the students to use at home, if they have internet access.
The third internet site I chose is Scholar Beta. The students can use this site to do research for school papers. This Scholar Beta site is a great tool to use when you are looking for cited scholarly articles and journals for research papers. Most importantly, this site allows students do to research almost anywhere, as long they have access to the internet they have the ability to do research away from school. This leads to the site docs.
On the site docs you are able to create and share your own online documents, presentations, and spreadsheets. This is another tool that the students can use in class or at home. What makes this a special site is that students can work together on presentations, documents and spreadsheets from different locations, as long as they have access to the internet. This is a great tool to get the students to learn how to work in groups together in school and then they can also work together on the internet.
Last but not least, Google Earth from what it looks this site can be used for many subjects, in science, geography, history, math, astronomy, and more. This is the first time I have ever seen a site like this. This site allows you to explore the universe in 3D, to include the planet earth, the moon and Mars. You can see the astronaut’s foot prints on the moon; see lots of NASA images from space. Then you can explore the ocean beneath the surface; explore lost shipwrecks, surf spots, and new discoveries. Then you can go around the world and explore cities, buildings and structures in 3D. Travel around the world view castles, palaces, museums, sky scrapers, and sports facilities all over the world. This tool allows you to explore the world without leaving your classroom. What a great tool to have in the classroom and introduce to the students. Not only will this help with the education of your students, this could open the students eyes to see what is out there in the world and possibly give them the motivation to continue their education and do something great with their lives. The web is amazing there are so many tools on the internet that the students and the educator can benefit from. I covered five of the web pages that seemed really interesting and look as if they have a place in the classroom. There are so many other web pages that the classroom can benefit from in many ways. I am looking forward to getting familiar with many of web sites and find ways to implement them classroom setting. These amazing web sites should help make teaching fun and interesting for both the students and the teacher.